Blue
by Dracobolt
Summary: In a single instant, he'd made a decision that would change his life, and now he would have to live with the consequences. When it was all over, did it really make him feel that blue? [Oneshot]


**Disclaimer:** Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot.

Special thanks go to my mate GSAlex for help with some awkward bits and the summary. This piece was inspired by the sanctum music from the games and by Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It's not the sort of story I normally write, but I think I did a good job. Nonetheless, reviews telling me what I did good on and how I can improve would be appreciated.

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What happened to the sky?_ Isaac tried to open his eyes wider. The left one slowly opened, bleary at first. The right eye would not cooperate; it stayed shut, and when he tried to force it, it pained him, so Isaac let it be, deciding to come back to it later. _A tactical retreat_, he thought. It passed through his mind that he might want to muster the rest of his body before returning to the stubborn eye. As he decided to try moving his arms, he again pondered the question of the missing sky. Before, he had been under a brilliant light blue sky, a sky whose shade he had thought similar to the color of Mia's cape. He'd thought of mentioning it to her, but he'd never gotten around to it - why hadn't he gotten around to it? Isaac let that question go unanswered. It was probably, he decided, related to the more pressing question of the missing sky. The sky had been blue, and the rocky walls of the desert had been yellow like his scarf, but now they were replaced by dark grey. The grey was darker in spots where the sunlight from the window didn't strike it.

"I'm indoors," Isaac said, or tried to. His voice rasped and caught in his throat when he spoke, so he decided to let the words stay right where they were. Gods, his throat hurt. Like when, in the Lamakan, he'd tried to drink from his canteen, not knowing that the water was boiling from the unreal heat of the area. His mouth and throat had been scorched from the experience, and after that Mia had cast Frost on all their canteens before they drank. _I wish Mia could do that now_, Isaac thought, reverting to an internal monologue after his unsuccessful attempt at speaking.

The question of the sky's location taken care of, Isaac decided to try moving his arms. Just as with his eyes, he was only halfway successful in his attempt. His right arm was bound to his body somehow, and it would not budge. Trying only made him gasp in pain, a ragged sound which alarmed him. Isaac allowed himself to be comforted by his ability to move his left arm, but the comfort was fleeting when he saw the long scar running down the length of his limb. Isaac let his arm drop and stared at where the sky should be.

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The darkness of the grey had become almost uniform by the time anyone came to see him. The last fading rays of sun through the window illuminated a flash of blue in the doorway. Isaac turned to look, and this signaled that he was awake, for Mia stepped over the threshold of the door and sat in a chair that had been pulled next to Isaac's bed.

"I thought the sky had gone missing," Isaac told her. "Luckily, I discovered it hadn't. Would have been a pity; it's the same color as your cloak." Mia seemed disconcerted by his revelation; she said nothing, smoothing her skirt instead.

"What happened?" Isaac asked after several long moments had passed in silence. Isaac had spent enough moments in silence that afternoon, watching the sun slowly seep out of the room through the window, and he felt it was time for some sound.

"You were injured in a fight," Mia told him. "Do you remember?"

Isaac considered this. He'd already realized that he must have been in some sort of altercation to have been injured, but he figured that Mia was referring to a specific occurrence. In that case, he could not and told her as such.

Mia looked away. "We were almost out of the Suhalla. Do you remember that?" Isaac nodded. "A Storm Lizard was chasing us, but it looked like we would make it out of the desert without conflict because we had a good enough lead. We were all tired and slightly injured, but we'd decided we didn't need healing because our injuries weren't bad and we didn't want to waste time." Mia shifted in her chair. She was now facing mostly away from Isaac and in the perfect position to study one of the room's few decorations, a tapestry hanging next to the door. "We were perhaps a half hour away from the exit of the desert; the grassland was visible. Then a group of Stone Soldiers pushed up out of the sand in front of us. There wasn't any time for a battle; the Storm Lizard was bearing down on us, and if it got close enough, we'd be trapped inside the whirlwind and forced to fight it." Mia was staring so hard at the tapestry that it would seem that she was engrossed with it, but Isaac was sure that all she was seeing was the Suhalla, brilliant blue sky above, yellow sand and rock walls, and that faint smudge of green at the end of the passage, an unreachable goal, as they tried to slip past the Stone Soldiers, Garet casting a large-scale Flare Wall that held the creatures back long enough for him and Iodem to pass through.

"I was supposed to go last," Isaac said, wincing as he spoke. Mia nodded, still facing away. "And after Garet went Ivan." The Jupiter Adept always liked to add some flair to his attacks. His whirlwind lifted the Stone Soldiers into the air and scattered them about when they landed. They'd been disoriented enough when they hit the ground for Mia to decide to make a run for it without casting her own diversionary attack.

"I should have stuck to the plan," Mia muttered. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"You couldn't have known that the whirlwind would have angered them enough to cause them to self-destruct." The reassurance was murder on his throat. Isaac speculated that this was what sword swallowers felt when their meals went down the wrong way.

"You could have died," Mia said. Isaac heard her voice quaver. He used his better arm to prop himself up so that his good eye could have a better view. "You could have been killed, saving me from my own stupidity."

"I wasn't," Isaac said. "I'd do it again, too. If I hadn't done it, how could I have lived with myself if you had died?" He thought of asking her to get him a glass of water but decided reluctantly that such a request would spoil the nature of their little heart-to-heart.

"Yes, but throwing yourself onto an exploding monster? I'm not worth that," Mia said. "You're the most important person in our group. You're the only one who can stop Felix."

"What good is saving the world if you can't save your friends?" Isaac let himself lay back down again. He stared at the ceiling; only the faintest patches of light grey remained. Soon they would need a lamp. "And look at Felix. He survived the boulder; I survived the explosion. There you go. Venus Adepts are resilient." He heard Mia chuckle softly and allowed himself a smile.

Mia turned around in her chair and looked at him fully for the first time. Isaac was not prepared for the pitying expression she couldn't help showing before she marshaled her features into a more neutral look seconds later. He tried to laugh it off. "What, do I have something on my face?"

"You haven't been able to open your right eye, have you?" she asked. He shook his head. "Isaac, I don't think you're going to be able to. The explosion, it- Your right side-" Mia placed her hand over her mouth. Isaac turned his gaze to the ceiling. The grey was completely uniform now.

"Your arm- you'll be able to use it eventually. The healers here, they helped me remove all the shrapnel. And your right leg will be almost as good as ever, just a slight limp. And- And- Isaac, I'm so sorry!" She ended with a sob, and the chair legs tapped against the floor as the piece of furniture tried to regain its equilibrium after Mia's abrupt exit.

_Blue_, he thought, watching her go. He closed his eyes. Mia, picking herself up from the sand, trying to put some distance between herself and the deadly monsters. Garet and Ivan staring in horror but too far to do anything. She was too close, and they were too far. He was running, the only thing he could do. Then the Stone Soldier was below him, around him, in him. And he howled as he landed on the sand. Then all he saw before the darkness was blue, brilliant up above and safe down below.

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Thanks for reading. Reviews are greatly appreciated, especially as this isn't the sort of thing I normally write.  



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